Photo Creds: Candy Funhouse.
The Year of Sports Stars Becoming Venture Capitalists
In 2016, Kevin Durant and his agent, Rich Kleiman, entered the investing world and launched 35 Ventures, a trailblazing platform that has redefined how athletes engage with startups. Starting off with small checks, the firm quickly made a name for itself by backing some of the most dynamic startups like Whoop and Overtime. And now, 35 Ventures has evolved far beyond a traditional family office, emerging as a dominant investment platform with influence across startups, media, and entertainment:
Startup Portfolio: Invested in over 100 startups across diverse sectors, including AI, health and wellness, media, and sports technology
Boardroom: A media platform spotlighting all-things-business in sports, media, and entertainment through short-form content, editorials, podcast, and more - garnering 90M+ impressions and 6M+ video views per month
Film & TV Production: Produced critically-acclaimed projects like Netflix’s Two Distant Strangers (Oscar winner for Best Live Action Short Film), Apple TV’s SWAGGER, and Overtime’s NYC Point Gods
Durant and Kleiman have established a blueprint for professional athletes to leverage their brand, connections, and capital to make meaningful contributions to the startup economy. This year, we’ve seen a surge in professional athletes following their lead, entering the venture space with bold ambitions. In this edition, we’re highlighting the newest athlete-led venture funds to watch in 2025. Could this be the next frontier for athletes?
Giannis Antetokounmpo - Build Your Legacy (BYL) Ventures
The NBA superstar has found extraordinary success in his current strategic business initiatives from creative partner with Nike to his own media production company Improbable Media. What’s next for the Greek Freak? His own venture fund. Giannis announced this November that he launched his own VC fund, BYL Ventures, focused on investing in startups that are pushing the boundaries of sports, media, entertainment, and technology.
BYL Ventures has already started off with a bang, adding two exciting startups to their portfolio:
Unrivaled: Participated in the $28M Series A round for the hyped-up 3v3 professional women’s basketball league founded by WNBA superstars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart
Candy Funhouse: Part-owners of an online confectionary platform that provides access to over 2500+ candy products for all of us sweet-lovers
Stephen Curry - Penny Jar Capital’s Fund II
Teaming up with former Davidson teammate Bryant Barr and TPG investor Richard Scudellari, Curry launched Penny Jar Capital in 2021, focusing on Seed and Series A investments for both consumer and B2B startups. Notable investments include Upwind, Praxis Labs, and Rumble League Studios.
Building on their recent success, Penny Jar Capital filed with the SEC this October to raise money for their Fund II Collective. As the firm gears up for their next series of investments, it will be interesting to see if they expand their network of LPs to other athletes and celebrities for this phase.
Omri Casspi - Swish Ventures
The first Israeli NBA basketball player Omri has embarked on his own venture journey. In 2022, he launched Sheva Capital, a $36M pre-seed and seed focused fund, with Israeli investor David Criton. While Sheva Capital achieved notable success with investments like EON and Upwind, differences in strategic vision led Omri to take the bold step of launching his own investment fund Swish Ventures, which he announced this month.
Backed by US and Israeli institutional investors and Sequoia partner Sean Maguire, Swish Ventures has raised a $60M inaugural fund targeting investments in cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI. To provide an extra hand for his future portco’s, Omri has also recruited Dana Alexandrovich, former COO of Microsoft in Israel, as the lead operating partner.
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The wave of 2024 athlete-led venture funds does not end there: former NBA champion Metta World Peace and ex-NFL wide receiver Marquis Colston are both seeking to raise $100M for their respective early-stage sports investment funds, Tru Skye Ventures and Champion Venture Partners. As we approach 2025, it is exciting to see how they will continue expanding their influence in the startup ecosystem.
Sports-Tech Market Activity: Investors & Deals
Venture Capital
Baller League, a 6v6 football competition featuring ‘innovative spin’ on the traditional sport, raises $25M in funding (Dec. 16th)
Raised over $33M to date, up from $8M this summer
Featuring a mix of influencers/creators and former pro players
Influencers KSI, IShowSpeed as Presidents for UK, US leagues, respectively
Investment was led by EQT Ventures— VC arm of Swedish PE firm EQT [SportsPro]
Oura, the premier smart-ring maker, raises $200M in Series D funding (Dec. 19th)
Bringing the company’s valuation to $5.2B
Investors include Fidelity Management and Dexacom [TC]
Agave Games, a mobile gaming company behind puzzle title ‘Find the Cat’, raises $18M in Series A funding (Dec. 17th)
Garnered over 10M downloads within the first quarter of its release
Expanding its ‘Find the Cat’ title alongside two new casual puzzle games
Investment was co-led by Felix Capital and Balderton Capital; Other investor includes E2VC [VentureBeat]
bsport, a fitness software startup that helps fitness studio owners scale, raises €30M ($31.5M) in Series B funding (Dec. 13th)
Expanding into US, European and Asia-Pacific markets
Investment led by Base10 Partners and Octopus Ventures; among other investors [Athletech]
Coplay, an AI-powered copilot for game developers, raises $1.2M in Pre-seed funding (Dec. 18th)
Product currently in closed-beta stage
Reportedly garnered over 400 game developers across 22 studios for waitlist
Investment was led by Failup Ventures; other investors include Tower Research Ventures, Founders Inc., and Sequoia Scouts among others [VentureBeat]
Moon Beast Productions, an indie gaming studio that develops ARPGs, raises $4.5M in Seed funding (Dec. 18th)
Developing an innovative RPG title “challenging conventional design paradigms"
Investment led by 1AM Gaming; other investors include 1UP Ventures, The Mini Fund among others [VentureBeat]
Unrivaled League closed a $28M Series A funding round ahead of launch (Dec. 16th)
Set to launch in January 2025; backed by Antetokounmpo, Phelps
Investment led by Berman Family; other investors include BYL Ventures, and Avenue Sports Fund, among others [FinSMEs]
Dark Passenger, a gaming studio formed by The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developers, raises $3 million in Seed funding (Dec. 16th)
Funding a first-person multiplayer PvPvE stealth-action game for PC and console
Investment led by The Games Fund; other investors include Blite Fund [GamesBeat]
Aonic, a gaming studio collective that houses gametech providers, work-for-hire studios, and service agencies, announced a $160M investment (€152M) (Dec. 17th)
Funding growth, mergers and acquisitions, and development projects
Acquisitions include Otherside Ent., Exmox, and nDreams among others
Investors include Metric Capital Partners and Active Ownership [VentureBeat]
BeamXR, a VR / XR company that provides streaming software development kit (SDK) to game developers and creators, raises $665K in funding (£532K) (Dec. 13th)
Enhancing its streaming software development kit capabilities
Allows developers and creators to stream simultaneously on various platforms
Investors include Creative UK’s North East Culture and Creative Investment Programme among others [FinSMEs]
M&A and Investments
The Friedkin Group’s bid for Everton takeover granted approval from the Premier League (Dec. 13th)
TFG previously pulled out of talks due to club debt concerns
Expected to finalize next week, the deal involves acquiring Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1% stake in the club [SkySports]
SURJ, a sports-focused subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's PIF, to announce closed significant sports investments in early 2025 (Dec. 18th)
Notable investments include $100M investment in PFL, $259M for new cycling league, and exploring minority stakes in the EuroLeague
Following announcement that the PIF is cutting back on international investment to focus on domestic endeavors and 2034 FIFA World Cup host announcement [SportsPro]
Wellhub (Gympass), a corporate wellness company, acquires Fitprime, a provider of fitness, nutrition, mental health solutions (Dec. 16th)
Following partnerships with Zumba and Nike Studios
Corporate wellness projected to reach $104.8B by 2030 [Maximize Market]
Serving three million employees globally, enhancing its ability to offer comprehensive wellness programs for companies [Athletetch]
Mercury/13, a women’s soccer ownership group, receives strategic investment from Avenue Sports Fund (Dec. 18th)
Founded 2023, with $100M to spend across European, Latin American clubs
Avenue Sports Fund, subset of Avenue Capital disclosed $445M raised in June
Supporting other investments like Premier League club Ipswich Town and shared reality company Cosm [SportsPro]
Spiideo, an automated sports camera producer, acquires optical-tracking, sports data company Signality for enhancing offerings for sports organizations (Dec. 18th)
Spiideo serves major leagues: Premier League, NHL, and NBA among others, including installations in over 6,000 venues over 60 countries [Spiideo]
XDS, a Chinese bike manufacturer, invests ‘heavily' in UCI WorldTeam Astana cycling team (Dec. 13th)
Now rebranded as XDS Astana Team from Astana Qazaqstan
Set to providing advanced engineering and bicycle tech, including X-LAB bikes [CyclingNews]
John Textor reportedly in talks to sell stake in Eagle Football Holdings to sports-focused Sportsbank (Dec. 13th)
Initially interested in a 45% stake in Crystal Palace from Eagle, Sportsbank is now reportedly negotiating for equity interest in the investment vehicle
Eagle Football Holdings seeking to raise $1.1B to prepare for a potential IPO [TheMiddleMarket]
Ishiba Sports, Phoenix Suns owner reportedly targeting Minnesota Twins acquisition (Dec. 13th)
Pohlad family, current owner acquired the franchise for $44M back in 1984
Sportico values the MLB team at $1.7B compared to an MLB average of $2.64B [Sportico]
Owners of MLS Vancouver Whitecaps tap Goldman Sachs for franchise sale (Dec. 13th)
Sportico values the franchise at $470M
Greg Kerfoot, 60% stake owner acquired the club for $30M back in 2002p [Sportico]
Photo Creds: The Friedkin Group’s Everton bid gains approval.
Strategic Ventures
UEFA, Mastercard, Adidas, announce two ‘Champions Innovate’ program startups to support for enhancing active and healthy living (Dec. 16th)
Mastercard to partner FC Urban, Adidas with Equip Sport
Startups receive €50K in funding, mentorship, and connections with key investors in sports and innovation
Pilot projects showcasing May 29th, 2025 ahead of UEFA Champions League final [UEFA]
NWSL taps Fastbreak.ai, a SaaS sports scheduling software, to optimize league expansion (Dec. 16th)
NWSL league expansion from 14 to 16 teams in 2026
Nominated for “Best in AI” title for 2025 Sports Business Awards
Following acquisition of schedulemaker Optimal Planning Solutions
Current investors include NBA, NHL, NFL and TMRW Sports among others [FastBreak]
Lasso Safe, a sports culture safety platform, partners with Players Health for athlete wellness surveys (Dec. 17th)
Ran pilots with 50+ universities including Utah State and Victoria University
Evaluating mental, emotional, physical, and well-being metrics among others [SBJ]
Pixellot, an automated sports camera provider, partners with fan engagement software company PlayOn for analytics platform for high schools (Dec. 15th)
Pixellot highlighted as a SBJ’s Top 10 Innovative Sports Tech Companies, 2023
VidSwap™ coaching tools to be made free for National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) member schools; roughly 10,000 schools [PlayOn]
NWSL in ‘exclusive negotiations’ to bring franchise to Denver (Dec. 18th)
MLS NEXT, Girls Academy youth sports league enter strategic partnership to enhance youth soccer development in North America (Dec. 17th)
Focusing on aligning technical standards, membership opportunities, and event integration for boys and girls programs [MLS]
Kitman Labs, a performance intelligence platform, partners with Swiss champs BSC Young Boys to centralize club data (Dec. 18th)
Used by Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC among others
Including medical, performance, and coaching development data into an integrated system [InsiderSport]